This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Facebook mania hits 1 million in Toronto

More than a million Torontonians made friends with Facebook in 2007, contributing to the "phenomenal growth" in Canadian users last year.

Toronto was the first city in North America to break 1 million subscribers, a recent study shows.

Now roughly half of Canadian web users have Facebook accounts, according to a report released yesterday by ZINC Research and Dufferin Research.

The national ongoing research study showed that the rate of Canadians subscribing to Facebook doubled in the past three months.

"Two thousand and seven is the year that Facebook took Canada by storm," said Brian Singh, managing director of ZINC Research.

In just over a year, Facebook racked up more than 7 million Canadian subscribers, who are among more than 58 million users worldwide, said Singh.

"This is phenomenal growth and there's no indication that this is slowing down soon."

Tracking showed that Facebook consistently accounted for more than three-quarters of memberships to social networking sites. The study also found that most Canadians who logged on to Facebook are between the ages of 18 to 34,

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...

Other popular social networking sites in the study include MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and MSNSpaces.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...

The two sites have been tight competitors ever since Facebook leapt on the scene in February 2004, founded by a Harvard University student. MySpace was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in July 2005 amid much fanfare and controversy.

The media mogul paid a total of $580 million (U.S.) for the site, which in 2005 was credited with changing the way people communicate.

More News

Top Stories

More from The Star & Partners

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com